To Inspire and to Inform: The Role of Role Models

Abstract Bridging the gender gap in STEM fields has become a priority for policymakers around the world. This paper evaluates the impact of a light-touch intervention in which female engineering students served as role models for high-school students in Peru. We find that a brief 20-minute interaction with these role models increased students’ interest in engineering and led to higher rates of application to and enrollment in engineering programs, concentrated among female students with high math aptitude. Suggestive evidence indicates increases in students’ self-confidence related to their math abilities following exposure to relatable role models. Set in a developing country context, our findings suggest that low-cost interventions can help narrow the gender gap in STEM participation, though they are unlikely to shift deeply persistent gender norms on their own.